7 Month Old with Hard Stools

My kids and I use flax seed oil and ground flax seed. very inexpensive if you buy it at walmart. You can mix it into her baby cereal and she won't know it's there. Very safe, the pediatrician had me start it with my youngest when he was 4 months old. if you are using the oil, it's about 1/2 tsp per day and if its the ground version 1 tsp mixed into something. My kids like it mixed in with their pancakes. It has worked really well for us, his stool is still firm, but he is able to go now.

My now 9 mo. old has had a similar issue with solids. I was also doing the prunes (which works great). Here are some other ideas: use prune juice in the cereal mixture (try oats instead of rice), feed her yogurt once a day (probiotics help), use less "binding" foods (avoid the B.R.A.T. diet, Bannanas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast), add some extra water to the formula, and try using a straw to help her take juice and water. What you do is hold the top of the straw with your finger off the top, dip the bottom of the straw in the liquid and simultaneously seal the top of the straw with your finger (causes a change in air pressure so some liquid stays inside the straw) then put the straw in her mouth (when she seems ready and willing to take it) and release your finger off the top causing the liquid to pour into her mouth. My daughter loves the "game" and she ends up taking a lot of extra liquid...of course it is a slow process and you need to be patient. One other last emergency idea...if I find my daughter is passing hard BM, I can use an infant suppository to help her along...I do not place the entire suppository in her, but just poke about 3/4 of it and hold it there. Then my daughter is "encouraged" to pass the rest of her BM. It works like a charm. But, the key with all of this is to help her intenstines to work naturally and that comes from proper fluid levels and extra fiber. Good Luck!

My daughter is about the same age.. If she is still taking a bottle, put prune juice in it with the formula. I used to give her a half ounce added to her bottle in the am. It worked great. Or is she eating "baby cereal"? Mix the prune juice with that. Good luck! Use prune juice and mix it into something that she is eating.. That is what I would try!

Hello,
My daughter had the exact same trouble at that age and our pediatrician recommended putting one tablespoon of Karo Syrup in her bottle 3 x a day. You can buy it at the supermarket in the cooking isle. It worked like a charm but it usually took a day or so. As soon as she is able to go, stop the syrup.

Good luck! :)

Ask your doctor about miralax. It takes awhile to find the right dose (advice - start with LESS not MORE) but we have settled on a dose which is so tiny - but does the trick to keep her regular. 1/4 tsp a day. He also said it will really help her with potty training because she isn't getting traumatized by having to strain so much.

Try Aloe Juice. It's all natural. I have a great one that is strawberry kiwi flavored so the kids love it and it's ok to use on little ones. There is no lanoline so no diareah. Let me know if you want some more info.

If you've been breast feeding, try adding a few more sessions back in. Breastmilk should loosen her up. I also echo the advice about the yogurt and baby oatmeal. I mix everything with banana or vanilla yogurt for my 7-month-old and he loves it! I think it helps his belly process the solids, too.
If you have a Jumperoo or something similar, put her in and see if that helps. Exercise is a great way to get the bowels moving.

The straw trick is great but if it is too difficult or time consuming, try a large medicine dropper. My kids LOVE sucking anything out of a medicine dropper!

Remember that as long as your baby isn't straining to have a BM and isn't in any pain, there isn't any need for suppositories which, in the long run, can make everything worse.

Best of luck!

Sounds like dehydration is actually a big part of the problem - if she's not getting enough water, that's a big cause of constipation. I would ease off on the pears - for some kids, they have the opposite effect. Also you could try Reliv's Now for Kids - I have a friend with 2 kids, the youngest a little younger than yours and still exclusively breast fed. The older one takes Now for Kids and has no more problems, and the baby gets the positive effect of adult Reliv through the mom's breast milk. She says he no longer has the gas pains or the infrequent poops, and both kids have softer and more comfortable, normal poops. The kids product comes in vanilla and chocolate, and can be mixed with water or milk or whatever. The vanilla tastes good mixed in yogurt or even applesauce (it offsets the binding effect of the applesauce), or cereal, and disguised pretty easily.